Tales of Arise, the critically acclaimed new entry in the Tales of franchise is available now, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

A demo of the game is still available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and is also available from today on PC.

The game puts players in the shoes of Alphen and Shionne, as they are uniting in their fight to free Dahna from the ruling of Rena. During their journey, they will meet a colourful cast, Rinwell, Law, Kisara and Dohalim, that will join their cause.

For more information on Tales of Arise and other products from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe please visit our website or follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

First of all, a big shout out and thanks to Weird Beluga Studio and Koch Media! I’ve been lucky enough to try out a brand-new title coming as a timed exclusive to PS4/ PS5 shortly and PC later this year!

Weird Beluga Studio won the local Playstation Talents Awards in their native Madrid, Spain taking home the Best Game 2019 & Best Art 2019 awards. The Playstation Talents Awards help local indie developers build and release titles on the Playstation family of consoles. Weird Beluga Studios was founded in 2019 by five mates from college That are ready to show off their new title Clid the Snail.

Onto the game itself.

Clid the Snail is a top down, twin stick shooter. You take control of Clid, a gruff loner of sorts who is only looking forward to his next drink. Not really fitting in anywhere you set off / get exiled from your home “The Snail Citadel” on your adventure.

Clid the Snail is set in a world devoid of humans. We are long gone with only the remnants of civilisation left behind. Clid is no ordinary snail either. Clid has humanoid features, a good mastery of many different types of weapons and an interchangeable shell full of explodey goodness! The world is littered with relics of the past. Clid although powerful and running around on two legs is still only as big as a snail. The world helps you realise this from the pieces of the past laying around. Running past a discarded lighter or over a guitar to crawling inside the skull and ribs of a fallen “giant” the scale of the world that you are fighting in makes itself well know.

Clid is joined on his quest by the ever-talkative Belu, a small firefly that will help you through your journey and from what I have played so far there seems to be a bit of an odd couple relationship forming. When trying to get to your next watering hole you meet up with some fellow outcasts called Alastor. They are all fellow outcasts from their respective tribes and each have different personalities and traits that I am sure we will find out more about as we go on.

I was lucky enough to get a hands-on preview of an early build on the PC and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Luckily the build gave me a bit of an OP Clid so early on in the game and be sure I was kicking butt. Straight away you get an insight into Clid’s personality. I called it gruff earlier in this piece but it is a little more than that. Clid is borderline a bit of a jerk, not in an overly bad way just different, more I am gonna do me and not worry what others think kind of way. As soon as you leave the Snail Citadel you are thrust into a vibrant world. I could go into what the overall of the game is about and I will but I need to fill you in on something first…

Clid was exiled from the citadel and you know where he was heading? To the next pub… a snail after my own heart.

The world around Clid is a dangerous place, full of enemies wanting to get in your way and stop you from your first quest. The gunplay here is on point. I have played a lot of twin stick shooters and this feels up there with the best of them. Controls are direct and responsive and fell very intuitive. I like that it is not all about run and gun also. You need to be aware of your surroundings and also position within the map using the terrain to your advantage. It’s not all about shooting either with mini puzzles through that reward you for exploration and you can use your guns to set off traps or open ways around battles.

Enemies are varied and each posses some good weapons to take you down. The premise of the story is the slugs are trying to take over the world. Destroying citadels of different tribes and causing grief. We were given a little more of an insight of the story but it wasn’t part of this preview section. Some of the creatures you come up against are obviously slugs, flys, these worm things out of the ground and a host of others that present themselves throughout the game.

Visually Weird Beluga have outdone themselves here. Clid the Snails’ world is exceptionally detailed. Everyday human items are scattered around and used to enhance the scale that you really are just a snail in this big ol world. I was very impressed with the lighting elements too. Even though Clid has followed this trend of over saturation in lighting and particle effects it does work and looks good, can be a little over the top at times but like I said, this is an early build.

Overall, I have enjoyed my time with Clid the Snail and while not usually a game I would pick up it is now in my must have list. I want to know where the story goes, how does the relationship with Belu grow and what does this ensemble of weird and wonderful characters bring to the table?

Reviewed: Patrick Clifford (Snoogs)

Platform: PC

Release date: TBA

(EDIT: There is supposed to be about 15 mins of gameplay to go along with this but due to a HDD crash I have lost everything. I will be capturing more if possible and will add in soon)

Welcome to Death’s Door, developed by Acid Nerve and published by Devolver Digital. Death’s Door on its surface is a light hearted parody of games like Dark Souls but underneath is a fun and engaging dungeon crawling experience likened too Zelda games of old.

Death’s Door sees you take control of a crow working as a reaper collecting souls of the dead as it’s 9-5. The afterlife has been re-imagined as a pencil pushing bureaucracy filled with professional reapers drudging about their day to day much like the rest of us. Reaping souls could get a little monotonous but quickly livens up when your first major assignment soul is stolen. Your job is now to track down the thief through a realm that is controlled by fantastic characters and untouched by death…

Death’s Door is a beautifully bleak world. Colour is all still there but the vibrancy has been turned down somewhat to give you the sense of a world that is essentially in limbo. Character models are beyond memorable and varied. The game is built like an old Zelda game or dungeon crawler. The map has various levels that you need traverse with plenty of secrets hidden throughout. While the game can be a little predictable at times there is enough variety and charm to simply not care. The characters are their own element in Death’s Door each having their own quirks and memorable abnormalities. Steadhome the Gravekeeper is one you meet early on but their want for you to reap them and end their existence, only for you to be unable too much to their disappointment had me chuckling.

Death’s Door is shown as a top-down crawler slightly isometric and for someone not overly familiar with the dungeon level designs of other titles it felt really intuitive and simple to follow. There is no map to speak of, check points are sparse but close enough together to not be a grind and trekking your way through corridors looking for that extra secret or finding the next key was never a chore.

Death’s Door can be a difficult game but that can be largely down to my own abilities. I don’t play a lot of these types so I died a lot, like a whole lot, and I have yet to get frustrated as they were always my own fault. Controls are tight and encounters feel well balanced. Weapons are both tangible and magical and double as part weapon and part puzzle solving tool. Several areas challenged me to chain these abilities together switching effortlessly from tool to weapon and back again. Magic uses has a limit but is simply restored by giving something a wack.

There are only a handful of weapons to collect throughout your playthrough and early on you start to realise what they are going to be by areas you need to get to within the map. The lack of weapons is actually a blessing as they easily map to the D pad on controller and leaves switching between them during battles an ease. Boss fights mix cartoonish evil charm with some impressively potent attacks each requiring to remember some of the mechanics from its dungeon to be able to get through. There is a small RPG element to help you on your reaping journey. Turning in your claimed souls for upgrades to your weapons and abilities ultimately helping out in the later enemies.

Death’s Door has been an absolute pleasure to play and showcases the ability of the small team of two over at Acid Nerve. Captivating visuals and tight, dynamic gameplay had me always happy to boot it up. Its tongue in cheek humour was refreshing in all its macabre glory.

With all that is going on in the world especially here in my backyard at the moment Death’s Door has been a well-received distraction and one I suggest you seriously have a look at. 

Reviewed: Patrick Clifford (Snoogs)

Reviewed on: PC / Steam